It seems they already know where the casinos are going with little respect for the free-market that Republicans once revered. We’re certainly not going to stop it, so we should at least share in the profits from it. I think we should be regulating and taxing most sin. I’ve got too much of a libertarian streak for that. Personally, I’m not opposed to gambling or casinos. They’ve proposed four casinos across the state, locating them in counties that have not shared in the state’s broader prosperity. After years of opposing any sort of “gaming,” as the industry calls it, the GOP has seen the light.
Now, Republicans in the state legislature have suddenly embraced gambling as a way to prosperity for some of North Carolina’s poorest communities. Maybe they’re bringing in the bucks, but the communities immediately surrounding them certainly didn’t look prosperous. They were built full of expectation, with grand porticoes and high rise hotels. The majority were sad looking places with large, half-empty parking lots. When I was driving across the west this summer, we passed by a number of rural casinos.
